Writings & Spiritual Musings

world cup

Whether you’re new to London or have lived here for centuries, Bullshit London Tours are sure to entertain and surprise you! I managed to piggy-back off a group of six Australian tourists that had booked an off-peak tour (main season is April – October) with our host, guide, and comic entertainer, Reuben Williams (if that name is to be believed!)

Learn who stole the clock from St Pauls… where God lives… the world’s smallest children’s prison… and much, much more…!

My favorite part had to be the guided tour of the famous Swedish soap opera film set…

49q? The Enigma Continues is currently FREE to download in Kindle format. Please help spread the word and share this blog, tweet it up, and post it on Facebook…!!!

Currently ranked #58… can we get it into the Top 10 together…?

“This is a great concept novel from author Anthony Donnelly. His works are among the most interesting and ground-breaking on the Kindle store. I think that Anthony is a very talented author and that we will soon start hearing of him in respected book publications.”

Fanny was now fast asleep on his lap, her face buried in his crotch. J-R still snored in the corner, despite Stump’s efforts to annoy him by throwing each of his empty lager cans at his head. Blagg had called for room service about fifteen minutes earlier and complained that the bar only had four lagers left in it. He had snorted that it wasn’t fucking good enough, and if they didn’t want him to come down to the lobby stark naked and prove why he was called Blagg Hardon, they should fucking well get some cold lagers up there pronto – 49 cold lagers to be precise. Needless to say, five minutes later, room service rang the bell of the penthouse and forty-nine cold lagers were trollied in. Twelve of them now littered the floor where Jonny-Ray slept.

“But that still doesn’t answer the question of where you get your lyrics?”

Every four years an amazing transformation happens to this expatriated Englishman… for four weeks during the World Cup he becomes an obsessive football (soccer) fan.

Strangely enough this is a fairly new phenomenon as he was never really that fond of football as a kid growing up – he played it, of course, but never really watched it, had a favorite team, or followed the game much. Much to his father’s disgust, who was an avid player and watcher of the game. He even turned down the opportunity to see a Wembley Cup Final with his Dad one time! This is the first World Cup his late father will be missing…

The games so far have been enthralling. The referees seem to have undergone extensive retraining. They have goal line technology – finally – which was a big point of concern at the last World Cup. And the teams seem to have entered the tournament with a renewed patriotic passion that has been missing in previous years. Perhaps it’s merely the exotic location of Brazil, but thus far there has not been a dull game yet.

Some incredible matches in the first few opening days, namely that of Holland and Spain – a fantastic comeback and an (almost) embarrassing end result. In similar fashion the comeback of Costa Rica yesterday – the underdog of Group D – proving that we may well be in for the best display of football the World Cup has seen in many, many years.

Obviously, for those uninterested in football or sports, this is probably torture, but there are many other channels for you to watch, so don’t cry too much!

For this world traveler, though, it does pose a wee bit of a problem. English by birth, the England team is obviously the main focus for me, and I must say that I was impressed with their performance yesterday, although a win against the Italians would have made me feel better! Having spent almost all my adult life (and ALL my football watching life) abroad, I have a certain affinity to other countries and their teams. A long time in Germany, I look forward to their first game. The England – Italy game was tough, as I was educated in Florence. More recently I have been living in the US (although I will be watching their game with a certain amount of sympathy, much like a father watching their children play a school game!) My latest travels took me to Costa Rica, so I shared ENORMOUS joy in their win against Uruguay – Pura Vida!

I often wonder, as I travel around, how many of the world’s troubles could be diminished, if we switched the battlefield for the football field, but I guess that’s probably just wishful thinking. For this converted footie fan, I’m just hoping for these exciting games to continue with the same passion and pace. I leave you with an old video of a patriotic song I co-produced many years ago… May the best team win!